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By:

Bharati Dubey

17 May 2026 at 1:38:10 am

After Don-3 controversy, Ranveer’s next film goes on floors

Mumbai: After months of attention surrounding his reported exit from Don 3, Ranveer Singh has finally moved on to his next major cinematic venture. The actor’s ambitious survival spectacle Pralay has officially gone on floors in Mumbai today, marking the beginning of filming on one of the most ambitious and scale-driven projects in Indian cinema. Headlined by Ranveer Singh and directed by Jai Mehta, Pralay is an original end-of-the-world action thriller that promises to take audiences into a...

After Don-3 controversy, Ranveer’s next film goes on floors

Mumbai: After months of attention surrounding his reported exit from Don 3, Ranveer Singh has finally moved on to his next major cinematic venture. The actor’s ambitious survival spectacle Pralay has officially gone on floors in Mumbai today, marking the beginning of filming on one of the most ambitious and scale-driven projects in Indian cinema. Headlined by Ranveer Singh and directed by Jai Mehta, Pralay is an original end-of-the-world action thriller that promises to take audiences into a world on the brink of annihilation. Produced by Ananya Birla’s Birla Studios, Hansal Mehta and Sahil Saigal’s True Story Films, and Maa Kasam Films, the film combines large-scale spectacle with a deeply human story of survival, courage and the instinct to fight for what matters most. The film marks Ranveer’s next major motion picture following Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar – The Revenge, which emerged as the highest-grossing film of all time. With Pralay, the actor once again ventures into unexplored cinematic territory, taking on a disruptive new concept that demands both physical intensity and emotional conviction. Ranveer will also serve as a producer on the film. The project comes at an important point in the actor’s career. His reported exit from Don 3 had generated considerable buzz, particularly as he was expected to carry forward one of Indian cinema’s most iconic franchises. With Pralay, Ranveer now turns the page with an entirely original story rather than stepping into another established universe. Joining him is Lokah breakout actress Kalyani Priyadarshan, who plays a pivotal role in the film and brings together another exciting performer from the new generation of Indian talent. For Ananya Birla, Pralay represents Birla Studios’ ambition to push the boundaries of mainstream Indian cinema by collaborating with contemporary creative forces. For True Story Films’ Hansal Mehta and Sahil Saigal, the project reflects their commitment to disruptive storytelling and content-driven cinema. Behind the camera, Jai Mehta leads the ambitious project. His work on Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, which he co-directed with Hansal Mehta, and Lootere has earned widespread acclaim. With Pralay, he steps into a significantly larger canvas, bringing together an ensemble of creative and technical talent from India and around the world. Set against the unmistakable pulse and landscape of Mumbai, Pralay follows a relentless journey of survival against the terrifying possibility of an end-of-the-world catastrophe. The film aims to marry breathtaking spectacle with an emotional core, exploring what people are willing to do to survive when the world as they know it begins to collapse. The makers are shooting extensively at live locations in and around Mumbai, embracing the physicality and unpredictability of real-world environments. The approach is designed to add scale, texture and realism to the apocalyptic world while creating an immersive theatrical experience. The film had already undergone several months of highly technical and intensive pre-production before cameras began rolling. Its ambitious mounting and unusual premise have made Pralay one of the most talked-about upcoming projects in Indian cinema.

The Last Sovereign

At 90, the Dalai Lama is confronting the future of his reincarnation with resolve and without deference to Beijing.

On July 2, in the Indian hill town of Dharamshala, where he has lived in exile since 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama made an announcement that echoed far beyond the confines of the Buddhist world. “The institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” he said, adding that the GadenPhodrang Trust - the body headquartered in his own office - would be the “sole authority” to recognise his reincarnation. “No one else has any… authority to interfere in this matter,” he added, in a pointed rebuke to the Chinese Communist Party, which claims precisely that authority.


It was the latest salvo in a long struggle over who controls the soul of Tibet. At stake is the fate of a people whose cultural identity has been under relentless siege.


There was a time when such words might have sounded obvious. But for Tibetan Buddhism in the 21st century, reincarnation has become a battleground. In 2007, the Chinese Communist Party issued an edict asserting that all ‘living Buddhas’ must receive state approval before reincarnating. The idea that a Marxist-Leninist regime would reserve the right to control the rebirth of souls might seem absurd were it not so chillingly consistent.


The Dalai Lama’s statement, issued just days before his 90th birthday, was not new in substance. He had said much the same in 2011. But the timing and the context - his advancing age and Beijing’s renewed assertiveness in Tibetan affairs - give it fresh urgency.


The reincarnation of a Dalai Lama has always been a matter of deep ritual and Tibetan consensus. The process stretches back to the 15th century, when the first Dalai Lama was posthumously recognised as a reincarnation. Since then, the line has been both a spiritual and temporal authority. From the 17th century until 1951, when Tibet was annexed by China, successive Dalai Lamas ruled as de facto sovereigns from Lhasa.


Born in 1935 in the village of Taktser, in what is now Qinghai province, Lhamo Thondup was recognised at age two as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. He was enthroned in Lhasa in 1940 and assumed full temporal power at the age of fifteen, just as Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army was consolidating its grip over Tibet. In 1959, amid the chaos of a failed uprising, the young Dalai Lama slipped out of Lhasa disguised as a soldier and fled across the Himalayas into India. He has never returned, presiding instead over a government-in-exile from Dharamshala. Over the decades, he has transformed his role from that of a traditional theocrat to a modern statesman advocating non-violence, religious harmony and ‘secular ethics’ in a world riddled with conflict and consumerism.


It is precisely this moral authority that the Chinese Communist Party fears. For Beijing, the Dalai Lama is a symbol of Tibetan resistance. That is why China insists it alone can select the 15th Dalai Lama.


In 1995, after the Dalai Lama recognised a six-year-old boy as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama (the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism) Chinese authorities abducted the child and installed their own alternative. The original Panchen Lama, now in his thirties, has never been seen again.


The Dalai Lama’s vision for what comes after him rests with the GadenPhodrang Trust. Founded in 2011 and headed by Samdhong Rinpoche, a soft-spoken scholar-monk and former prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, the Trust will oversee the search and recognition of his reincarnation, should the institution continue. Two other affiliated bodies - the Dalai Lama Trust in Delhi and the GadenPhodrang Foundation in Zurich - support his broader mission of education, humanitarian work and global spiritual dialogue.


That looming scenario of rival Dalai Lamas, one chosen by Tibetan lamas, the other by Beijing’s bureaucrats, threatens to split the Tibetan community and further dilute international attention. It is also, paradoxically, a sign of how potent the institution remains. No government engineers the succession of a figure it deems irrelevant.


The Dalai Lama remains an eternal paradox in motion. A monk who once ruled a country. A refugee who became a Nobel laureate. And now, a nonagenarian who is preparing his people for a future in which his voice may no longer be audible but his choices and his warnings may shape Tibetan destiny for generations.

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